Toil and Trouble
by deepandlovelydark
Summary: Some stories are constants. So are some friends. (A Mac and Jack story for either the original or reboot show, according to taste.)
1. Chapter 1

Damn those DXS morons. After spending a week running from a pack of agents who theoretically ought to have been on their side, it's a wonder Mac even knows which direction is up anymore.

"C'mon, think up something clever," Jack says patiently. "Something to make you trust me, so I can help you out already. You can't expect me to be the brains of this operation, can you?"

"I guess not," MacGyver admits, though he doesn't move to narrow the distance between them. What can a man accomplish with a tuning fork and an electrical system, anyway? Probably nothing good. "Okay, here's one. Remember that camping trip, when we were inventing ridiculous emergency code phrases? What's the one we settled on?"

"Oh, hell," Jack says in dismay. "That was years back! I thought you were kidding!"

"I was. So it's a bit of information they're unlikely to have interrogated out of you, I'll take that much of a chance." His expression hardens. "But you're going to say you don't know, aren't you?"

"Give me a minute...uh, we were in the Adirondacks. After a pretty rough trip to Bulgaria, and you said you knew this great fishing spot in a- wassathing? A koom?"

"A cwm. Keep going."

"We had this ugly yellow canvas tent, I asked why and you said because it's the nicest colour under candlelight. I kept making fun of it until we made camp and lit the candles, waxy red ones. And you were right, it did look great." Jack closes his eyes. "Also I had to borrow your shaving gear because I'd forgotten mine, and it was a '30s straight razor. Army issue. Pretty sharp for an antique. I caught four catfish the third day out and you said you'd make me throw them back if I wasn't going to eat them, so I rolled them in cornmeal and cooked 'em in leftover bacon grease. You were trying out this old lure your dad had made and didn't catch a thing, except..."

"Except what?"

"Except a size twenty-one boot, and we wondered who the heck had lost that. I'm sorry, Mac, I'm remembering everything about that trip except that stupid code."

"Behold my stupid hat."

"What?"

"I shouldn't have let you pick out a code phrase while drunk," MacGyver says, shrugging. "But you said it was only fair exchange for two nicely fried catfish, so who was I to argue?"

"Uh. Does that mean you trust me again?"

"Jack, I just said that! C'mon, I've got a hot lead to follow up. If it goes well Langley will be singing our praises inside of a week."

"And if it doesn't?"

"If it doesn't I'm no worse off than I am now. You sure you're coming? It'll be kinda dangerous."

Well.

He does, of course.


	2. Chapter 2

The first time, Jack figures that Mac must have brought along a razor.

By the fourth time, he's starting to suspect shenanigans.

Tenth time, after they'd bailed out of a plane with no equipment whatsoever, he just knows something's going on.

"Mac, I don't get it. Three days in the middle of blasted nowhere- just how are you keeping up that clean shave?"

"I've got my SAK, don't I?"

"You can't shave with a thing like that! It'd never hold a sharp enough edge!"

"Mine does," Mac says, with a shrug. "Want to borrow it?"

Unbelievable, but it actually works.


	3. Chapter 3

"Of course, his real obsession is with MacGyver. No question about that.

But Jack Dalton has a way of hanging around even when he's not supposed to, and there are times Murdoc wonders. A peculiar relationship enough, without making it a threesome: but then, aren't all three of them peculiar?

(One time, he sends the two of them suggestive flowers. It doesn't end well.)

Occasionally, he even thinks about Dalton alone- humorous eyes, that roguish charm. It's like cheating on his troubleshooter; and it evokes a certain guilt.

And guilt is such a deliciously rare emotion for him, these days.


	4. Chapter 4

"Math," MacGyver remarks, as he glides over the ice. "Math, quick reflexes, an opponent to outthink and plenty of ice to keep you cool. Hockey's the perfect combination, I don't see what you have against it."

"Mac, I'm from Texas. Y'know, Texas? Southern state, kinda sunny? Down there, ice is something you put in beer?"

"But it's got everything you like about football, and then some. Needless violence, even."

"Yeah, I noticed!"

They've only been out here for half an hour, and his skating partner's already humiliated him six ways from Sunday. "How come you're only like this in the rink, huh?"

"Because on a mission it's for real," MacGyver says. "On the rink, I can pretty much let myself go. If I lose, I lose. If I don't, great!"

He slaps a shot forward, which bounces off Jack's hockey stick and ricochets straight into the net.

"As though you'd ever lose. Out there or in here," Jack mutters.

And readies himself for the next shot.


	5. Miami Vice Out Where the Buses Don't Run

MacGyver leans against the wall, watching. Along with the waiting cops.

At the other end of the room, Jack Dalton is slamming away at the same wall with a sledgehammer; but it's so firmly built, he can't even feel the vibrations. Good bit of construction, this. Sturdy. Made from a compound that dries in only two hours, but stays strong, impregnable...

One final blow, and now they're all looking through the shattered remnants. One mummified corpse, still clutching a yellowing newspaper.

"Say hello," Jack says, with bright delighted madness, "to Mr Arcaro!"

Too rich to imprison; but not too savvy to kill.

(Of course, Jack had lost it a long time ago; but now he's not even pretending. Or maybe the sanity had always been the pretense. Hard to tell, now- when had the quips soured, the violence started to fester? Before or after he'd decided to go rogue on Arcaro? Not that it really matters, now...)

"He was my partner, you understand?" MacGyver asks, for the benefit of the silent cop besides him. "You understand?"

"Yeah." (The cop has a partner, too.)

"Book him," Jack says, tired and satisfied. The stereo mix of "Brothers in Arms" swells, fades. Typically over-the-top touch, that, so very Jack...

"You knew he killed Arcaro."

"I helped him build the wall."

(It'd have kept the secret indefinitely; and so would he...)


End file.
